The Blue Devils and the Wolfpack drew 15.1 million viewers, the most of any Elite Eight game in five years. In fact, it was the most-watched telecast on Easter Sunday in more than a decade.
The Blue Devils are clearly still the biggest draw in the sport because the previous most-watched Easter Sunday game was when Duke played Louisville in 2013.
Sunday’s game drew almost 19 million viewers at its peak.
Duke took a six-point lead into halftime, but the Wolfpack surged back for a dominant second half to make the Final Four for the first time in four decades.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports deliver the most-watched Elite Eight day since 2019, led by NC State-Duke with more than 15 million viewers pic.twitter.com/53ML8TSk2J
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) April 2, 2024
The Duke-NC State game averaged more than five million viewers more than the Purdue-Tennessee precursor, which came in around 10.4 million viewers.
Duke freshman Jared McCain scored 30 points in two of his four tournament games, and he was the only Blue Devil to make the all-region team.
Jared McCain was named to the South All-Region Team on Sunday evening after he scored 32 points against NC State in the Elite Eight.
McCain averaged 21.0 points per game in Duke’s four-game tournament run, including a 30-point game against James Madison in the second round when he made a program record eight 3-pointers in one NCAA Tournament game.
He also averaged 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, and the freshman finished 50% from beyond the 3-point line.
No other Duke player finished with even a 20-point game, much less two 30-point performances over the course of March Madness. McCain’s 32-point performance against the Wolfpack is tied for the fourth-most in a single NCAA Tournament game in Duke history.
NC State stars DJ Burns and DJ Horne led the five-man squad, and Marquette’s Tyler Kolek and Houston’s Jamal Shead also made the all-region team.
The best photos from Duke’s game against NC State on Sunday.
Duke let a first-half lead and a chance at the Final Four slip away on Easter Sunday.
After a low-scoring first 20 minutes, the Blue Devils took a 27-21 in the locker room behind 13 points from star freshman Jared McCain. In the second half, however, the control fell apart. NC State stars DJ Burns and DJ Horne combined to shoot 14/18 from the floor in the second half, putting up 49 points between the two of them.
The Blue Devils, on the other hand, managed to make just 11 of their 33 attempts in the second half. McCain finished with 32 points on 8/20 shooting, but his teammates combined to add 32 points on 39 shots.
Here are the best photos from Duke’s season-ending loss.
Duke pushes back into top 10 in latest D1Baseball Poll.
Duke baseball is back in the top 10.
After a little bit of a bump in the road, Chris Pollard’s team desperately needed a big week on the diamond to shift the momentum. They got just that with a 3-1 week that saw them take down ACC foe UVA for the Blue Devils’ second ACC series win of the season.
The week started with the Blue Devils hammering in-state opponent Campbell 11-1 on Tuesday. The Blue Devils got back after it on Thursday when they hosted a top-25 Virginia team. Ace pitcher Jonathan Santucci dazzled, working five innings of two-hit baseball to improve his record to 5-0, and Duke won 9-4.
On Friday, UVA bounced back with a 7-3 win to even the series at one game apiece. Another Duke comeback spearheaded Saturday’s rubber match. After the Blue Devils were down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, they exploded for five runs in the seventh and pulled out a 7-4 win to take the series.
Joined by UNC and Clemson, Duke now gives the ACC three teams ranked in the top 10. Arkansas remains number one for another week, Clemson is number two, and Texas A&M rose from fourth to third.
The fourth spot belongs to Tennessee with the fifth going to Oregon State. Virginia Tech (11), Florida State (14), Virginia (15), NC State (19), and Wake Forest (21) make up the rest of the ACC teams on this week’s poll.
Duke was named the No. 9 team in the country by Baseball America and the No. 7 team by Perfect Game.
The Blue Devils will be back in action on Tuesday to take on Liberty in Lynchburg, Va., for a midweek game before returning home to host Miami for ACC play at Jack Coombs Field next weekend.
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you spending a bit of time here with us today. Hope you had a fantastic weekend.
The NCAA had an opportunity to really put women’s sports on a pedestal it’d never been on before this season with the women’s NCAA Tournament.
The players are holding up their end of the bargain. The NCAA is not. That’s the only explanation for what happened in Portland this weekend.
NC State and Texas played an Elite 8 game where the 3-point lines on the court were different distances. That’s unfathomable to me. Could you imagine a Duke-UNC game on the men’s side like that? The answer is no. Because it’d simply never happen.
It was discovered only because NC State and Texas pointed it out just before their Elite 8 matchup. But, by then, it was too late. The teams had already warmed up and players were prepared to play ball, so they just continued as if it was business as usual. It essentially was because, well, that’s how the NCAA has always treated women’s sports.
The women’s basketball tournament is still looked at as secondary despite all the inroads women’s basketball has made. You’ve got stars galore in the game. College basketball’s most popular players play on the women’s side these days. Their NIL deals are crazy. One would think that, with that being the case, the NCAA would make sure these ladies get the best and only the best.
But no amount of NIL deals or Instagram followers matters here. Women’s basketball — and women’s sports overall — just don’t seem to be a priority at this point. And that’s so unfortunate because the game is so good. The stars are so bright and fun. They all deserve so much better. We’re all just waiting for the NCAA to give it to them finally.
Maybe they will someday. It’s just unfortunate that today does not seem to be that day.
Thank you so much, UVA, for giving us NC State in the Final Four
The answer is probably not. But here we are. UVA missed. NC State won. And, now, Gen-Z Bo is America’s favorite player. It’s incredible how things work out sometimes.
Things only get tougher from here. NC State is playing Purdue in the Final Four, and Burns will face Zach Edey, who’s been quite the problem himself. It’ll be a tough one.
Joel Embiid is nearing his return with the Philadelphia 76ers after tearing his meniscus, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
ESPN Sources: Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is nearing a return and expected to play this week. The reigning MVP has been out since January 30 with a left meniscus injury. His status for Tuesday vs. OKC is expected later today. pic.twitter.com/Rn4mb6Qizv
He’s been out since January 30 but could play later on Monday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This is huge news. The 76ers are currently the 8th seed in the East and need every win they can get to get out of the play-in tournament. Embiid’s return should help with that.
Quick hits: More on those awful MLB jerseys … DJ Burns in the NFL? … and more
The final leg of March Madness begins with the men’s Final Four in Phoenix at State Farm Stadium.
The Final Four is officially set as the NC State Wolfpack and Purdue Boilermakers both punched their tickets to Phoenix, or Glendale where the games are being played.
The Wolfpack continued their hot streak knocking off the Duke Blue Devils for the second time since the regular season ended. The Purdue Boilermakers had to fend off a really good Tennessee Volunteers team led by Dalton Knecht. Nothing was going to stop the Purdue redemption tour on that day.
Those two teams joined the Final Four field that already included the Alabama Crimson Tide and UConn Huskies. The action will get going on Saturday from State Farm Stadium. The winners will face off on Monday night for the NCAA national championship. The favorite has to be the champions but history isn’t on their side. No one has repeated as the top dogs since the Florida Gators did it in 2006 and 2007.
Below you will find the tipoff and broadcast details for the game.
Despite the fact that he’s been awesome for the Wolfpack, he may not be a future NBA draft pick (but maybe a UDFA?) despite measuring at 6-foot-9 and 275 pounds. But given that size and athleticism … what about playing on the offensive line in the NFL?
We’ve seen some hoops stars in college — Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham come to mind — go to the NFL and flourish. Could that be a possibility?
First: he did play football before hoops, as you’ll see in the video below, and second, NFL Network’s Peter Schrager says he spoke to some scouts and GMs who sounded interested (note: I am fully aware he posted this on April 1, but no word yet on whether it was a joke or not):
Spoke to and texted multiple scouts/GMs about NC State big man DJ Burns as an NFL OT prospect over the last 24 hours.He is listed at 6’9, but probably is 6’7. A+ footwork. Would get big turnout & potentially $ if he participated in a Pro Day/workout the week after the Final 4. pic.twitter.com/zxyufktHeC
Yeah DJ Burns you’re killing it in this @MarchMadnessMBB tournament. But your future is playing left tackle in the @NFL. Go look at the contracts tonight and report back.
Got texts from a GM, Ass't GM, and college director within an hour of posting this on Friday night. NFL interest in D.J. Burns is a real thing. https://t.co/lqk77d0Kx1
But he did a little trolling after the win over the Blue Devils, too. He threw in an Instagram video with Duke’s Jared McCain — a TikTok star! — getting fooled and he used a little clip of McCain dancing.
Burns later said it was “all love” and that he was having fun, but this qualifies as trolling. Here’s the clip that everyone was sharing after he posted it:
DJ Burns' IG story after NC State knocked out Duke to advance to the Final Four 😂 pic.twitter.com/uejpFowiJE
The Wolfpack couldn’t make a shot in the first half, but they couldn’t miss in the second as they stormed back to win the South region.
For the second time in the 2024 postseason, underdog NC State stunned Duke. The Wolfpack dominated the final 20 minutes to storm back for a 76-64 victory on Sunday, clinching a spot in the Final Four.
The in-state rivals battled for the third time in the month of March on Sunday, just weeks after NC State bounced Duke from the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Neither of the first two contests held the same stakes as this Elite Eight matchup, however.
The two North Carolina teams combined for an inefficient, mistake-prone first half from the floor. Neither team finished above 31% from the floor, and the Wolfpack and the Blue Devils went a combined 3/14 (21.4%) from behind the 3-point line. Duke coughed up the ball five times in the first 20 minutes.
Despite the inefficiency, freshman Jared McCain found a way to shine through once again. He helped take the lid off of the basket early with a transition 3-pointer, stopping on a dime with the NC State defense still not settled around him. The bucket gave Duke the lead back five minutes into the game, and his five free throws over the next two minutes extended the advantage to three points.
He couldn’t match his torrid early pace from the James Madison game in the second round, when he buried six first-half triples en route to a 30-point game, but he did score 13 points before the break.
The Blue Devils fought through their offensive struggles to take a 27-21 lead into the locker room. The Wolfpack fared even worse, making just one of their 11 layup attempts and one of their seven 3-point efforts.
Sophomore 7-footer Kyle Filipowski, who scored just two points on five shots in the first half, laid in an easy bucket a minute and a half into the second half, and Duke led 29-23.
The Wolfpack kept themselves alive, however. The two DJs, forward DJ Burns and guard DJ Horne, traded baskets as NC State went on a run. Horne made a layup, Burns made a bucket, and the lead shrank to four. Horne fed teammate Mohamed Diarra for a dunk before burying a 3-pointer to pull within one.
Horne, an All-ACC Third Team member, drew a foul on the next possession, and his two ensuing free throws pushed the Wolfpack in front for the first time since the opening minutes. After a three-point play from Filipowski, Burns and Horne traded three more baskets between them.
All told, the two DJs combined to score or assist on 21 of NC State’s points during the 25-11 run, and the Wolfpack led 48-40 with eight minutes to play.
When NC State’s Michael O’Connell buried a triple to balloon the lead to nine with seven minutes on the clock, the game felt officially out of hand.
The Wolfpack run officially slowed down at 35-15, and they outscored Duke 55-37 in the second half for the 12-point victory. Burns and Horne teamed for 49 combined points, and the duo shot 14/18 from the floor over the final 20 minutes. Duke, as a team, shot just 11/33.
NC State advances to play Purdue in the Final Four.
